Priestley explores the sense of responsibility in his morality play, an inspector calls, through the reactions and comments of each of the Birling family members towards Eva Smith's death and their involvements. First Priestley explores the sense of responsibility through Mr Birling and his higher class values on the lower classes and comments made to accusations of his involvement with Eva’s death. This is first implied, “If we were all responsible for everything that happened to everyone we;d had anything to do with, it would be very awkward, wouldn’t it? Mr Birling denies his apparent responsibility for Eva Smith suicide and believes if we were all responsible for each other it would be “awkward” which opposes his capitalist values and views of a shared social responsibility. Also it is presented, “There’ll be a scandal “. Instead of Mr Birling showing responsibilities for his actions, he cares solely more on his reputation and on how his higher class family is seen as. If a scandal is spread about the Birling family, it could possibly have an effect on Mr Birling Knighthood that he boldly tried to show off to …show more content…
Sheila shows an opposite way of handling responsibilities to her father. She presents it as taking responsibility for her involvement in the death of Eva Sith, “No, not really it was my own fault “, Sheila is only a few of the Birling family to own up to their mistakes and relentlessly tells her parents that she is at fault unlike them. Her taking responsibility can start to show her change as the younger generation from capitalist views to socialist views. Also, this could be implied “I have behaved badly too. I know I did, “Ashamed of it”, this again presents Sheila’s guilt and her acceptance of this social responsibility of her involvement and that it’s not just Eva’s fault. This could also highlight the want for everyone else to feel ashamed for their own
As the play was meant to be produced on stage, rather than to be written as a book format, 'An Inspector Calls' is very dramatic; to capture the audiences' attention, and to keep them thinking as the play develops. Each of the three acts are very dramatic, but I am choosing to analyse the first half of Act One of 'An Inspector Calls', because in my opinion, this is where J.B. Priestley's use of dramatic devices is most evident. This part of the play is very important, because it is the opening scene. Not only must the opening scene of the play grab the audiences' attention, it must also give impressions and introductions to the main characters. J.B. Priestley has used the scene to capture the audiences' attention and imagination, and gives a good introduction to the characters and their personality.
An Inspector Calls was written in 1945 but set in 1912. The play shows the stark difference between 1912 and 1945. J. B. Priestley reveals the errors of society and the faults of capitalism as well as the bias of the upper class and social status. As a firm believer in the concepts of socialism, he uses this play to expose society’s poor attitudes to the working class of the period. The way they treat Eva Smith reflects on how many of the working class may have been treated by their social superiors. Eva was a victim in society as she was very low in the financial hierarchy as well as in reality where she was at the bottom of the classes. Women at that time were seen as being delicate, obedient to their husbands. The inspector is used to correct the
The Reflection of J. B. Priestley's Political and Philosophical Beliefs in An Inspector Calls In 1945 J. B. Priestley wrote the play "An Inspector Calls". It is a very tense play; the audience are always on the edge of their seats. It is didactic as it conveys a social and moral meaning to the play.
‘ An Inspector Calls ’ is a play written by J Priestley in the year 1945 and but the play was set in the year 1912. The play is set right before World War One, in an upper-class house belonging to the Birlings, a high-status family, whose lives are suddenly affected by the death of a woman called Eva Smith. Throughout the play, there are 4 main themes; social responsibility, social class, and age. In the play, Priestley explores different social classes by presenting views from a range of characters with different social images and backgrounds. Priestley uses many devices such as irony and foreshadowing to
The Play ‘An Inspector Calls’ is a modern morality play, created by J. B. Priestley. A morality play is a play that is designed to teach the audience the difference between right and wrong; the morality of this play is a Christian and socialist morality. The play encapsulates on the Christian religious morality that you should treat people the way you want to be treated to ‘love thy neighbour as thy self’. J. B. Priestley was a socialist who believed that everyone was created equally and should be treated equally. He believed in this despite his lack of faith. Priestley presents this moral message and his politics and opinions through the Inspector who is a God-like figure and serves as a conscience for both the audience and the Birling family. The Inspector also serves a peculiar but important role in the play. The Inspector teaches the Birling family morality and serves them a conscience. The Inspector is nothing more than a phantasm or illusion, as we know from the end of the play. Priestley’s moral is mixed between his politics and the beliefs of a Christian. As a socialist J. B. Priestley expresses his opinions through this play, in the time politicians were hated so Priestley used the play as a device to put his points forward. The play was not just a political view; it was his personal dream and passion to write an entertaining play. He creates it as a detective play because they were interesting, popular and the audience could also try to crack the mystery themselves, this was a very intelligent and unique way of expressing his opinions, as he knew they would be heard this way.
To summarise Priestley shapes our view in showing that Author Birling is an selfish, impatient man who won’t change his ways and who didn't learn his lesson, this shows that Mr Birling is the older generation he is old fashioned. Priestley shapes our view in showing that Shelia is a kind caring woman who can take responsibility for her actions, Shelia learnt her lesson and is willing to chance and this shows that she is the younger generation who is more responsible and will admit to what she has done and not try and cover it up.
Priestley represents Mrs Birling, as a very posh and high class woman. She, like her husband, can be very self-important, for example, when the Inspector says, "You're not telling me the truth" and she replies, "I beg your pardon!" She seems horrified that somebody could speak like that to a lady of her class. This is not only an example of how she is portrayed as self-important but also how class-conscious she is. Another example of this is in the stage directions at the beginning of the play when Mrs Birling is described as ?her husband?s social superior? meaning she is probably more aware of what the class boundaries are than perhaps Mr Birling would. She is also presented as rather cold and severe, ?If the girl?s death is due to anybody, then it?s due to him? Mrs Birling says as she criticises the father of Eva Smith?s baby. Here she shows she has little or no real regard towards other people?s feelings, especially people of a lower class. She says that the man responsible should be ?dealt with very severely?, assuming that he, like Eva, is lower class, therefore implying that upper class people never do anything like that. This links with the theme of stereotypes which is seen a lot in the play.
J.B. Priestley's Inspector Calls. An Inspector Calls by J.B. Priestley is set in an industrial city. Brymley in 1912, just before the First World War. The Inspector's dealings with the Birling family cause some of the characters in the play to re-evaluate their position in society, whilst others remain.
Within the play “An Inspector Calls, J.B Priestley uses ideas and themes to form the play and explore areas of our society and real problems to structure the play. One of the main themes of the play is responsibility. Responsibility is used by all of the main characters in the play and presented in different ways by each of them, by their different outlooks on responsibility and how they have varying degrees of their thought of their involvement with Eva Smith that resulted in her suicide. As responsibility is a key theme, Priestley uses it as a way to connect with us and to understand our personal responsibility in society. He wants us to learn to accept responsibility like Sheila and Eric and not avoid it like Arthur and Sybil. The play
The theme of selfishness is central to An Inspector Calls. Priestley questions the morality of the Birling and Croft
Priestley used his ‘surroundings’ and the problems at the time to write ‘An Inspector Calls’. In Act 1, the Birling’s are celebrating their daughter’s engagement to Gerald Croft, which would merge two business competitors (the Birling’s and the Croft’s), which would result in higher profits - being the most beneficial to Mr Birling. In Act 1, Priestley heavily relies on the audience’s knowledge of past events for dramatic irony - Priestley uses Birling’s optimism as he raves about Titanic: “the Titanic - she sails next week - forty-six thousand eight hundred tons - New York in five days - and every luxury, and unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable.” This is about going into a world that will avoid conflict. Ironically, Priestley already introduced conflict as Birling’s views conflict with the reality of what is about to cause unease in Britain.
The whole family’s actions are the cause of Eva’s death however the message about responsibility the Inspector presents is only take on board by Eric and Sheila. In conclusion, Priestley clearly gets across his message of responsibility towards others in the play. A clever script cunningly executed points out Priestley’s views to the audience. ‘Responsibility’ is the focal point of the play and is consistently addressed at the end of each interrogation, but the Birlings fail to recognise this.
was genuine and this allows the audience to almost predict their own ending; how will the family react to the arrival of the real Inspector? Will they acknowledge this as a chance to admit to their mistakes or will they try and conceal their guilt? I thoroughly enjoyed studying An Inspector Calls and have learned a great deal about how society has changed and how moral ideals have evolved over time. I found the play effective although because of the way in which society has developed Priestley's morals may not be applicable to life today. As wealth and power have become increasingly more important socialist feelings of responsibility for one another have been progressively weakened.
J B Priestley clearly had a strong moral conscience which led him to hold socialist beliefs wanting to bring about change against the capitalists who were exploiting the poor working class. In 'An Inspector Calls' Priestley cleverly uses dramatic techniques, lighting and stage directions to produce an emotionally charged setting to bring home a very important message to the correct society of his day and remains a challenge to the society in which we live in now.
Through his play Priestley endeavoured to convey a message to the audiences, that we could not go on being self obsessed and that we had to change our political views. He used the Birling family as an example of the Capitalist family that was common amongst the higher classes in 1912, who took no responsibility for other people and he showed this with the power of Socialism, represented by the inspector; the uneasy facade put on by the Birling family to cover up their real flaws and how they have treated those whom they considered to be lower class could not stand up to any scrutiny without shame for what had happened, showing that they know they have been wrong.